View Quest Travels April 15 – 23 in a larger map
(Zoom in or out on the map by clicking the small + & – signs. Move it around by clicking your mouse button and dragging the map in the desired direction. Click the falcon icons for more information about each location.)

There was a five-day gap in the data from Quest’s transmitter, but it hasn’t been a problem. In fact, Quest is making it pretty easy for us to follow her daily routine. She’s found a good spot to spend her nights, the Stage Harbor Light House. It’s the highest structure around, so it’s likely she’s roosting on the light tower or possibly the peak of the roof. Here’s a picture of the map zoomed in on the light house. As you’ll see, her night-time locations are all within a couple hundred feet of the structure:

And what’s she doing with her days? Hunting off Monomoy Island, of course. In particular she appears to really enjoy the tidal flats just east of Stage Harbor on the northern end of Monomoy near the mainland (click the Sat button on the map to see the tidal flats). She’s so consistent in these locations that we think it’s only a matter of time before one of the local birders on the Cape gets a good look at her. They ought to have really good luck catching her at the lighthouse near dusk or dawn.

View Quest Travels Apr 1- 10 in a larger map
(Zoom in or out on the map by clicking the small + & – signs. Move it around by clicking your mouse button and dragging the map in the desired direction. Click the falcon icons for more information about each location.)

We’re happy to announce that our access to Quest’s transmitter data has been restored. In our absence she hasn’t missed a beat.

Her night time locations are in Chatham, with a couple of data points placing her near a structure that might be a lighthouse at the Stage Harbor inlet. On the 7^th it looks like she spent the night in the 200 block of Cedar Street near Stetson Cove.

Her daytime haunts appear to be the tidal flats just off the Cape south of Stage Harbor, and along the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge. Temperature sensor data, when we receive it, shows that she’s staying warm, doubtless a reflection of the good weather overall in April.

Mike Allen sent an email with an update on Mariah’s condition, which we’ve excerpted here.

I thought I’d let you know that Mariah made Syracuse without incident. Our veterinarian examined her closely and was very grateful for the detailed log of what had been done since she was picked up on Sunday. She was quite feisty even after the long trip and the vet tech commented that “feisty is good.” The concern obviously is the wound at her throat. They wanted to give her some time to settle in before examining further. I’m not sure how often I’ll be updating this situation but I will try to do so as frequently as time allows. My interpretation is that she is in excellent hands and has already made “new friends!”

Keep looking up!

Mike

This news is about as good as any we could expect at this point, and we’re very grateful for the update!

You may be wondering why we haven’t posted any Quest updates recently. The news about Mariah has taken precedence for the past several days, but the real issue is a technical one. We’re currently migrating the Rochester Falconcam to new web servers, and a side effect is that we’ve temporarily lost access to the email account where we receive Quest’s transmitter data. As soon as we get that back we’ll update you on Quest’s latest adventures.

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(Zoom in or out on the map by clicking the small + & – signs. Move it around by clicking your mouse button and dragging the map in the desired direction. Click the falcon icons for more information about each location.)

The last week of March found Quest ranging up and down the Cape. She went as far north as Wellfleet and appears to have returned to her offshore hunting near Monomoy NWR. Many of the best positional readings didn’t include temperature data, but the ones that did indicate that she’s been keeping warm. That’s most likely been helped by the good weather that Cape Cod residents enjoyed recently.

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(Zoom in or out on the map by clicking the small “+” & “-” signs. Move it around by clicking your mouse button and dragging the map in the desired direction. Click the falcon icons for more information about each location.)

Quest stayed on the northern spit of Cape Cod for the past week. She started near Wellfleet harbor but moved south after a couple of days, apparently setting up her new operation around Nauset Harbor.

We were lucky to get three good consecutive readings on the morning of the 20^th. Each data point, spaced at 2-hour intervals, show Quest at the beach and tidal flats surrounding the Main Channel, within a mile of Nauset Harbor. It seems like a good bet that she’s doing a lot of hunting there. Temperature sensor data show consistent readings in excess of 20°C (68°F) at most times of the day. The high temperature reading for the week was a balmy 28.4°C, or 83°F! That’s not bad for the day before Spring…

We were hoping to nail down where Quest is spending her evenings, but it doesn’t look like she’s found a particular spot yet. The evening and early morning position data are all over the place. It may be that she just finds a quiet spot out of the way wherever her travels have taken her that day, but we’ll keep watching to see if a pattern develops. If past is prologue, we expect she’ll settle into a routine pretty soon.

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(Zoom in or out on the map by clicking the small “+” & “-” signs. Move it around by clicking your mouse button and dragging the map in the desired direction. Click the falcon icons for more information about each location.)

With the warmer weather we’ve had recently, Quest may be deciding to expand her orbit a bit. From the 5^th through the 12^th she repeated her familiar pattern in Nantucket, but on the 13^th she headed north. She didn’t go far though, stopping at Cape Cod where she’s been recorded in Chatham, Eastham, and Wellfleet harbor.

Could this be the beginning of a spring move, perhaps to scout out a possible territory? It’s still way to early to tell what she’s going to do, but keep watching for more updates!

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(Zoom in or out on the map by clicking the small “+” & “-” signs. Move it around by clicking your mouse button and dragging the map in the desired direction. Click the falcon icons for more information about each location.)

Again, not much to report from Quest. Aside from a trip north to a curious, spidery clump of interconnected roads and expensive looking buildings in the Polpis area she continues her normal pattern of movements in south-east Nantucket.

We’re happy to report that the winter storm that struck the northeast earlier in the week does not appear to have impacted Quest to any great extent. Her transmitter’s temperature sensor continues to read well above ambient air temperatures, going as high as 25°C and generally hovering between 18 and 20 degrees.

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(Zoom in or out on the map by clicking the small “+” & “-” signs. Move it around by clicking your mouse button and dragging the map in the desired direction. Click the falcon icons for more information about each location.)

There is not much to report regarding Quest’s movements over the past ten days. Indeed, with few exceptions she has settled into a fairly predictable pattern. Most early morning and late evening locations are in the Tom Nevers neighborhood. Most daytime readings show her along the coast, south of Low Beach Road.

From Nantucket birding authority Edie Ray, we learn that Quest continues to be seen at the beach. Edie emailed recently to say that “the Nantucket Marine Mammal Stranding Team were down on the beach near the Loran Station and Tom Never’s Pond (measuring a dead Pygmy Sperm Whale that had washed up) on 2/11 and 2/12 and saw Quest both times!”

Since she’s keeping to such a small area we think residents and visitors have a pretty good chance of spotting her at the shore on most days.

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(Zoom in or out on the map by clicking the small “+” & “-” signs. Move it around by clicking your mouse button and dragging the map in the desired direction. Click the falcon icons for more information about each location.)

It appears that Quest has found a good place to rest in the area around Wood Hollow Road and Chuck Hollow Road amid the woodlands and expansive houses just south of the Siasconset Golf Course. Morning and evening readings form a tight cluster of locations within about ½ mile. Her daytime locations are farther south near the shore in keeping with many of the eyewitness accounts we’ve received over the past months. Data from the transmitter’s temperature sensor continues to show that Quest is keeping warm, with temperatures from 18-25°C being recorded. So as we head toward the latter part of winter Quest is keeping a routine that ought to make it relatively easy for her many fans on Nantucket to keep track of her.

-Jess

The birding populace on Nantucket certainly seem to have taken Quest into their hearts. The latest sighting comes from Edie Ray, who had a close encounter with Quest on the 25^th of January. She sent along some pictures to go with her engaging story too. You can view the pictures by clicking the pictures and highlighted links below. Edie writes:

Late in the afternoon on [January 25, 2009] I pulled into the parking area at Low Beach in ‘Sconset on the Eastern edge of Nantucket Island, Ma. As I exited my car and began pulling on numerous layers of clothing (it was COLD), I noticed a woman with several dogs walking up the trail from the beach. Just beyond her and seemingly undisturbed by this activity I observed a Peregrine Falcon sitting on a sign on the beach. “Must be Quest”, I thought to myself.

I asked the dog-walker as she hurried past if she had seen the Peregrine and would she like a closer look using my binos. She replied that she had indeed seen the bird and had wondered what “that funny stick was on it’s back”. Aha, Quest for sure…

Now on a quest for Quest I headed to the beach and managed a pic or two of her sitting on the sand. As I watched I could see her looking at a flock of Bufflehead ducks feeding just offshore. All of a sudden she took flight and headed out over the startled ducks. I then lost sight of her over the water.

Turning my attention to gulls I amused myself for about forty minutes counting and admiring the many Iceland and Lesser Black-backed Gulls feeding just North along the beach from Quest’s take off point. As I left the gulls and began to head back along the beach to the path I once again saw Quest. She now was sitting on a “shipwreck” looking piece of flotsam and jetsam and looking very photogenic indeed.

     

     

Not wanting to disturb her I approached slowly, pausing at times to let her get accustomed to my presence. At one point she lifted her tail and produced a “nice poop”, good evidence of her success in hunting I think! With her “consent” and a telephoto lens I was then able to get a number of nice shots of her basking in the late afternoon sun.

Leaving Quest I headed up the path to my car. While greeting some arriving birders in the parking lot one of them (Vern Laux) yelled “Peregrines!” I turned just in time to grab my camera and get a pic or two of Quest embarking on an aerial dogfight with a smaller Peregrine right over the beach. Even at a distance we could her vocalizing!

After watching this amazing display until both birds were out of sight I headed for home having had a most memorable encounter with a true master of flight. All in all an afternoon I won’t soon forget!

We’re so grateful to Edie and all of Quest’s fans on Nantucket for keeping us informed about her, and especially for sending along all of the terrific pictures! Quest looks great, and she sure seems to be having a good time on her island winter home.

-Jess